Month: December 2001

it’s 11 pm, on the west coast of the US, and the web is quiet. those to the east of us are finishing up their celebrations, or starting the first day of 2002, and there’s not much from west of here ’til the date line.

me, I’m sitting at my computer, the glow of little pink bat lights and the glittering purple lights faintly illuminating the workroom. to one side: a window, overlooking the street and the mormon’s parking lot. to the other: C. and his computer, and the whirr/hum of the scanner. in my headphones, weird jarring music (partially) of my own creation.

happy new year.

less than 10 hours until this year is entirely gone. I suppose it’s time to update my timeline. 😛

2001: a new job and yet another place to live. I finally finish a complete draft of Aila, although the group that helped me get there spend most of the year crumbling in various ways. I begin to “blog.” I buy a car, get my driver’s license, and get hit by a semi – all in the same season.
new computer stuff: ‘blogging, web standards, PHP, Illustrator, SQL

and there’s my year in one tidy paragraph. <whew>

perhaps it’s a good time for a little more depth.

this year I discovered some music that was new to me, at least. like the Moby I’m listening to right now. read quite a few books I’d never read before. Foundation sucked me in, even if I found it pretty sexist in the original trilogy. I went without TV for several months at the end of last winter, which I think was good for me. The Simpsons continued its slow decline; I only saw Buffy & Angel sporadically, but became addicted to 24. (don’t forget the Saturday morning cartoons on WB!)

speaking of addiction – this was the year that brought me to MetaFilter – oh joy!

movies? lots of silly ones, like The One, Iron Monkey, or Rush Hour 2. plus a few brilliant ones: Moulin Rouge, Shrek (which I didn’t see until DVD), and Lord of the Rings. (Harry Potter falls more towards the silly side.)

I tried to write a fantasy story and fell on my ass. went on a haiku jag this summer/fall. and, yes, I completed that draft of Aila. I’ve grown more in my craft, with lots of help from great writers like Matt, Bruce, Barry, Kat and Joe. alas, the Q group broke apart shortly after the beginning of this year, with me, Matt, Bruce & Barry sticking it out at least until very recently. I managed not to lose any friendships in the process, and to keep on writing.

no femme fatale in 2001. no homme fatale either, for that matter, although I did have several weird dreams about mathowie. and Chad is still my partner, my lover, my friend, and probably the cutest boy I know. at the end of this strange year, I feel as though we are closer than ever.

reconnected with two people who were once very special to me: Irina, after sept. 11, and K – because he used my web comment form. very, very happy to have those connections again.

I keep falling in love with the web. (broadband helps.) I keep learning, and expanding my horizons, and I’m hopelessly, ecstatically grateful to have a job and a life that gives me a chance to play in what is becoming my favorite medium.

I’m happy to be alive.

sometimes, that feeling alone is fucking miraculous.

check out this cosmic calendar (a la Sagan), read this poem and go outside, whatever the weather, and marvel at the fact that you are in the world, and consious of it.

he discovered the magic of Photoshop this weekend, which is a damn beautiful thing to behold. cool crazy things with Nat’l. Geo maps, hand-drawn sketches, and the scanner. (the best Xmas gift ever – and that, from 2 years ago! thanks mom.)

today’s music attempt seems to be going a little better than yesterdays. I totally muffed a transition on the piece I was writing yesterday, and today I tried again with a new piece with much better results. actually, I think it’s kinda catchy. 🙂

two new projects I want to start on for myself this week:

Gynasiums of Lust/Dodecahedron of Love

I’m not sure what the content will be, but I got the 1st half from a random band name generator, and it piqued my interest. probably will be some sort of personal history thing. maybe gather others’ stories?

Game site

yeah, there’s something there, but it sux. and we’re finally getting our world stuff together.

I bought myself some cheep music mixing software at Half Price Books the other day, so this evening was all about wacky techno/trance music. frankly, I’m a half-assed musician, but I’m having fun nonetheless. (sort of like the semester I took ceramics.) if I can get the MP3 export function to work, I might post some, tho I’d be rather embarrassed.

but I do have a big ol’ stack of letters from HEA.

which makes me wonder if there’s another box kicking around here someplace, because I should have a stack of letters from other people. ’cause, y’know, people used to write letters on paper.

few better than herself. (who seems to have taken up running, if Google is to be believed.) <sigh>

well, here’s the other thing. I didn’t go to group the other night, and I didn’t warn anyone aforehand, and nobody’s tried to get ahold of me, either. (no one did after I begged off the last time – bad headache, thought I was getting sick.)

and I’ve been thinking, again, much as I did at the end of the summer. it’s just not enough – not a good ROI, as the tech mags say. partially because the “I” part of the equation is pretty heavy, relatively speaking.

so I think I’m going to email the guys – because it’s not really about them so much – and I want to stay friends, such as we are, and I hope we can stay in touch creatively. then I’m going to start working on getting a writers’ group together down here. I know what I want, and I’m hoping that I can find it in my own backyard.

I want to publish another ‘zine, too. maybe something less graphically ambitious than the Q attempt (which was lovely, if I do say so myself!), but a way to get my work, and others as well, out there.

I gotta get going on this. time is sliding by at an alarming rate.

oh, and note to K – I actually can’t find the journals from that period. they might still be around, but right now it looks like there’s a gap from 1986 until 1991. I’ll admit I find that a little troubling.

many, many days (okay, 4) since I was last able to write, and longer than that since I’ve been even remotely verbose.

just got home from trying to game with some people at the Game Matrix. not very cool, really. dude was all set up with some kind of goofy scifi – fantasy crossover. bleh. and not done too clearly either. so, yeah, I rerolled a 1st level Otter for nothing.

they were talking about playing a straight scifi game, but I don’t think I’m down. I don’t want to play a scifi game; frankly, it sounds too martial. Chad’s working on the Balaton setting again, which could be pretty cool – perhaps he’ll run that, which would mean gearing up the game site again.

but I’m basically just looking forward to playing Wheel of Time again. that rocked!

which leads me back to the Xmas/Solstice weekend….

Saturday

sort of an off day, not too sure about plans, or any kind of holiday spirit. almost gamed w/Kat, decided against. stayed home & watched Andromeda instead.

Sunday

decided we really did want to game. went to Ikea first, which was just as entertaining as it always is. picked up candles, candleholders, hangers, a lamp ($10 – and finally we can see in our front room!), and a big stuffed animal snake. (for the cats; yeah, right, E.) then off to the WotC store at Southcenter – get the WoT book for Kat (Xmas) and a mini-module for that day’s play. played for hours, many snacks enjoyed by all. Kat & I got turned into stone & made invisible, and there the game ended. 🙁

Monday

goofed around at various shopping outlets. wow, Fred Meyer was hella crowded. when we got back, Kat had left a message asking if we wanted to have dinner & game with her & Mark. also heard about HR’s party down in Oly, so….

Tuesday

early morning drive to Seattle – gorgeous icy weather, as it was all weekend. picked up Kat, went looking for an open grocery store, which we couldn’t find, and coffee, which we did. (Cafe Lladro – no link, alas)

then off to Mark’s house. Kat had us roll up 18 yr-old modern humans – we started in the “real” world, on a camping trip on the WA coast. it was hell wacky, when the Seanchan (sp?) rolled up on us. Chad, as the Chinese-Filipino Roxi, kicked ass, shooting everything in sight with her grandpa’s Colt 45. mostly, I screamed a lot. 😛

but it was fun enough, and ended ambigiously enough, that we are playing again on New Year’s Day! yay!

as for the party in Oly…the less said of that the better. (I drove home at 6 in the morning, on icy roads, after 2.5 hrs sleep, with Chad being very hung over.

whew. the rest of the week – nothing to write home about, really. some interesting exchanges of ancient tales, which leave me needing to look up things in old journals (I guess there is why I keep that shit) – and led to a lovely compliment.

just a quick post – I’ve pretty much taken the weekend off from using the computer – trying to give my hands a break.

but this is turning out to be a lovely holiday season, despite my own best efforts. 😛 (if you were expecting a card from me, you might get one for new year’s. I hope.)

Fellowship of the Ring was fab. I wanna see it again, and I’m glad we went to see it at the Cinerama. (3rd & 4th people in line, thank you very much!) perhaps I’ll write a little more detail, maybe after I see it again.

played D&D with Kat and Chad yesterday – loads of fun. and tomorrow we’re going up to Mark’s to eat food and play Wheel of Time – Kat as DM! yay! then down to Oly to hang out with the posse down there.

so, yeah. it’s pretty good. still have a ton of things to do, but I feel mellow about it.